| Chris Sunkin |
06-23-2008 08:31 AM |
Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes. As usual, my birthday was an eventful one, spent dealing with problems on a jobsite. Someday I hope to get one of these days off. Probably won't happen though.
I've come to expect eventful birthdays. I have no idea why, they just work out that way. I've told this story before on here but since it's my all-time favorite birthday story, I'll tell it again.
A few years back, we were in Hilton Head over the week my birthday fell on. That year we decided to take our jetskis with us. Since we go on vacation similar to how armies invade nations, the 2 ski trailer just wasn't enough. So, the weekend before, I went down to the shop and made a trailer. It carried both skis, 5 bicycles and all our beach/vacation stuff. It looked like a circus wagon but it held everything.
So we get there and decide to go out on the water. It's the day of my birthday and we have a relaxing day of play and picnic planned. I have my wife & kids and my brother-in-law's wife and kids. The one usable ramp on the island was clogged with amateur hour traffic- one boat parked in the center of a 2.5 boat-width ramp while they fold the cover neatly and load the coolers from the truck. After a few of these, I lose my patience and head back into the narrow space left.
As I'm backing in, the trailer slips off the ramp to the side. No problem, I'll dump the skis off and just pull out. Well, underwater there's a big bulge and step in the concrete that the tire has fallen off of. On the way out, the axle catches on it and literally tears it from the trailer frame. The axle is bent, the frame is mangled and the spring is twisted. Basically, the trailer is now scrap. No problem, I brought my wallet. So as I proceed to locate a massive utility trailer on a weekend in a resort area, the kids blissfully jestki around the bay, enjoying their vacation. Finally I locate a marina that has a 4-ski trailer that I can strap everything to and cart it home and the better part of 2 grand later, I'm on my way back. I realize as I'm coming back that I'd left my cellphone in the back of the truck so I stop to retrieve it- there are about 19 missed calls from my wife. Uh oh. One voicemail- "when you're coming across the bridge, don't worry, the fire trucks and ambulance aren't for us." Great. So I get back only to discover that some teenage girl on a ski hit an old submerged piling and bounced into the bridge at 60 MPH. My son had to go out and get her and bring her to shore. She was so bad she had to be life-flighted to Savannah. The piling she hit at low tide was covered in oysters- they said she looked like she'd fell into a grinder. But, my son kept her from drowning or bleeding to death before help arrived- my little Eagle Scout.
But before all that drama happened, my niece ran one of my skis up onto the sand and as they freed it, they knocked the drain plug out, causing it to start to sink. So, thinking quickly, she beached it on the opposite side of the bay in oyster beds. As the tide was going out. I wish it would have gone to the bottom.
I seriously considered returning the trailer and writing everything off. But I didn't.
I managed to drag the ski back to shore. I then had to get it up on the grass, get it off the trailer and flip it upside down, then crank all the water out of the motor- all by myself. Once back, I spent the rest of the evening de-salinating the submerged ski and figuring out how to affix the contents of a small suburban home to my birthday present- a new jetski trailer!
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